As the outer shell, it’s the main feature that everyone will see and the house cladding type decides the style for the rest of your home. What’s the best cladding system for you will depend on what look you like.

Cladding materials vary in colour, texture and geometry, allowing you to make a choice that is unique to your home.

Please let me introduce cladding typ and help you chose the best option for your own home!

Timber Weatherboards
This is the traditional cladding material for New Zealand homes. Weatherboards are usually shaped planks fixed horizontally and lapped over each other. Rainwater drains down the outside and can only get inside if it is forced upwards between the boards. it then runds down the backs of the weatherboards, exiting the wall at the bottom.

Weatherboards can be vertical as well. Below is the ceder boards attached vertically.

Fibre cement
Fibre cement exterior wall coverings come in the form of panels and weatherboards. Vertical sheet joints can be made with plastic jointers or covered with vertical timber battens. It is important that manufacturers’ jointing and flashing recommendations are followed.Where the sheets have flushed joints and a plastered surface, the cladding is known as a monolithic cladding.

The look of the Weatherboard Type can be very similar to timber weatherboads

Fibre cement requires less maintenance and more durable than timber weatherboard in harsh conditions but needs to be properly installed with reliable traders to avoid leaking issues.

Plywood

Plywood panels may be used as cladding. Gaps are covered with battens or flashings. You can also get plywood weatherboards.

Masonry veneer
Masonry veneer is a system where a timber or steel-framed home is clad with bricks, stone, or thin concrete blocks. The masonry is connected to the timber framing through flexible wall ties.

Concrete Block
Concrete blocks or poured concrete may act as both the structure and the cladding.

Metal Cladding

Metal cladding options are most commonly made using aluminium or steel. Steel is generally more expensive and more durable. Aluminium is comparatively cheaper but can be damaged more easily in bad weather. Metal cladding requires low maintenance, needing simply a good wash each year. However, compared to other cladding types, metal is not considered to provide good insulation.

It is recommended that each cladding system needs a proper underlay system for it to work and avoid the future risk of waterleak. If the underlay system is properly constructed any of the cladding type will have no problem for a long period of time.

Drained and vented wall cavities
Some cladding systems work on the assumption that some water will inevitably penetrate the outer skin of the building. A cavity between the outer wall covering and the interior lining allows water to drain away through drain holes and air to circulate.

With most types of cladding, in all but low-risk situations, a dry cavity is now required under the Building Code.

Wall underlays or building paper
Building paper and synthetic wraps are designed to help limit entry of wind and moisture to the wall or roof cavity, and they provide temporary weather protection during early stages of construction. They also keep any moisture that gets past the cladding from direct contact with framing timber and insulation until it can drain and dry

Flashings
Flashings are strips of metal or other material that cover joints and gaps where water can get in. They are used around window frames, external doorways, and on top of exposed walls, to help stop water getting in, and help to drain it out.